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Final Fantasy XIV Community Rep Bayohne confirmed today that because early phases of the beta of A Realm Reborn are still in Gridania (like the alpha), normally that would restrict players to selecting a class with its guild headquartered in Gridania (Archer, Lancer, Conjurer).

However, due to content requiring a proper tank which will be available in the first two phases, such as the level 25 dungeon, players will be able to unlock gladiator.
...

The latest Letter from the Producer went live today. Unfortunately, there are no pretty pictures this time around. The discussion focuses almost exclusively on the progress and future for alpha testing. You can read the whole letter here.

The main takeaways from the article are as follows:

We are currently in phase three of the alpha which will end December 2.

The final alpha phase begins December 3. Thousands of new applicants are expected to be invited to join.

Approximately 1/4 Japanese applicants, 1/6 North American applicants, and 1/3 European applicants have been accepted so far.

Phase four will see the addition of a third world for alpha testing and will involve stress tests for server mergers. New alpha testers are encouraged to join the new server (existing servers are Chocobo and Moogle).

Each world is designed to allow up to 5,000 simultaneous connections.

A Realm Reborn features approximately 40 areas, each of which can support approximately 1,000 active players at a time.

One of the Alpha testers broke the Non-Disclosure-Agreement and has linked some screenshots of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Please excuse or ignore the upskirts they did of their mi'qote about halfway through the album; some people just have no taste! The gallery does include a number of shots of new environments though, which are a significant improvement over the 1.x version.